Siacoin (or Sia) is a decentralized platform that provides a cloud storage service and competes with the centralized clouds of DropBox, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.
With Sia, any user can provide free space to others or, conversely, place their files in encrypted storage, and all contracts, proof of content security and transactions are verified using a public blockchain.
All services on the network are paid for in the Siacoin cryptocurrency, and the reliability of transactions is ensured by smart contracts and proof of custody.
Any Siacoin holder can rent space from Sia hosts. This is done using smart contracts stored on the Sia blockchain. The smart contract transfers payment to the host only after it stores the file for a designated period of time. If the host loses the file, then he does not receive payment.
The distributed nature of the Sia network allows it to optimize response time, throughput, reliability and security. The distributed nature of Sia allows anyone to rent out storage space, thereby lowering the barrier to entry and the overall cost of data storage.
Siacoin (SC) exchange rate to ruble and US dollar (online)
Current exchange rate of Siacoin against the ruble and US dollar, trading volume and SC price dynamics chart:
Sia is a new approach among cloud storage platforms. As opposed to the approach in which data centers are owned by one company, Sia allows anyone to make money by renting out their hard drive. Data integrity is protected using cryptography and redundancy.
In the future, Sia could become a decentralized network of data centers that, taken together, represent the world's largest, fastest, cheapest and most secure cloud storage platform. Today, in order to become a major player in the cloud data storage market, a company needs to have its own data centers, have the trust of customers in the market and compete with giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
Other purchasing options
In addition to mining Siacoin, there are two more options for obtaining the coin:
- The owner of a server or computer with a large hard drive can connect to the platform and rent out virtual space. The reward will be the Siacoin cryptocurrency. The amount of payment depends on the space rented and the amount of time for which it is used.
- The fastest way to buy Siacoin coins is to use a crypto exchange. Currently, SC cryptocurrency can be purchased on many virtual markets around the world.
Storage Ecosystem
The Sia platform consists of service providers (hosts) and clients (users) - the hosts provide users with free storage space on their devices and are paid in Siacoin for this.
The ecosystem is intended to be flexible and its operation will largely be determined by the free market. Hosts can set their own prices, advertise the reliability of their equipment, and offer compensation in case problems arise with the storage and files are lost. In addition, they may refuse to give a customer space if they are unhappy with the nature of their data—for example, if it is ethically questionable, affects someone else's interests, or if it is proposed to store illegal content.
A number of measures have also been taken to protect the interests of clients - they can split copies of their data between several providers to ensure the security of files and the ability to restore them in the event of a failure; if a host has lost a client's file or simply refuses to give it over, the client can simply request a copy from another host's storage. In addition, in case such a situation arises, the parties can agree on fines that the host must pay.
In addition, the client can pay extra to the provider for storage reliability, which should encourage hosts to listen to user needs, try to provide fast connections, and so on.
Smart contracts for storing files
If the client and the host want to start a relationship, they enter into a contract for storing files (as we already said, the data is stored on the host’s hard drive, but the contract is recorded in the Sia blockchain).
Such a contract defines the terms of storage and guarantees that the parties fulfill their obligations, while it is stored on a public blockchain and is both open to review and protected from changes.
As we already mentioned, the terms of the contract can be quite flexible. So, if a client wants to buy a cheaper service and is willing to sacrifice reliability, this is his right, and the host can, for example, charge an additional fee for storing large amounts of data. Platform users choose providers themselves, based on their reputation and compliance with technical requirements, and the host, in turn, can decide whether a client with such requests is suitable for him.
At the same time, the use of smart contracts provides the necessary level of security in this free market: they determine the duration of the agreement, the frequency with which the provider must provide proof of the storage operation to the network, as well as the cost of the service.
The client, creating a contract, transfers funds to it to secure future payments, and every time the next document is sent for storage, part of the funds from this account is sent to the host, and when the contract ends, unused coins, if any, are returned to the client’s wallet.
Proof of storage
Sia implements Proof of Storage - this mechanism protects clients from dishonest behavior of the host. To receive payment, the supplier must provide the system with a certain amount of evidence within the time frame specified in the contract.
If the provider fails to provide proof of storage within the specified time frame, the next payment is sent to the missing proof address, and the provider may later be subject to additional fines for breach of obligation. In addition, if the provider allows this situation to happen too often, the contract may be terminated early.
When the host successfully provides proof of storage, the contract issues a payment to the valid proof address, and, after a number of conditions are met, the host gains access to these coins.
What does the future hold for cryptocurrency?
The virtual coin is still too young. It is quite difficult to make a serious forecast for the near future about its prospects. Currently, the project is just beginning to gain momentum. The developers are making great efforts to promote the coin and increase interest in it among the population. This has a positive effect on increasing the price of the SC cryptocurrency. Considering the modern security system and quite acceptable software for making currency transactions, the virtual coin has prospects. In the future, everything depends on the owners of the platform. The preliminary forecast for SC by some leading financial analysts is quite optimistic. They suggest that under certain conditions in the currency market in the future, these digital coins could replace the currently leading Bitcoin. At the very least, this virtual money is predicted to have one of its worthy places among crypto-finance.
Currently, despite the rising price of electronic money, SC has a long way to go and many tasks to complete to increase the number of users of the Sia platform and gain a reputation on the world's leading exchanges. The creators of the resource have a special plan to resolve such issues. It can be found on the official website: https://sia.tech/technology. It is updated almost every month. This resource also provides information about which items have already been implemented.
Nowadays, virtual money is gaining more and more space, replacing paper coins and gold. In the near future, society will come to the point where virtual tokens can be used to pay for food, clothing or real estate. This does not mean that you need to start mining right now or purchase virtual funds on one of the platforms. But it’s definitely worth thinking about it and studying the issue.
Why is Sia better than its competitors?
Sia offers a number of advantages over traditional cloud storage services:
- Confidentiality. All data on the Sia network is stored in encrypted form, and if the host does not have the private key, he cannot access it, meaning the client always has full control over any of his materials. In the traditional model, the company managing the cloud storage has full access to your data.
- Availability. Sia implements a flexible pricing model - there is no single price tag, and the client can choose the appropriate option. So, for example, storing 1 TB of data through Sia can cost as little as $2 per month, but on Amazon it costs $23.
- Safety. Let us repeat: all data passes through the decentralized Sia network in encrypted form, that is, users of this network are not afraid of threats typical of centralized systems. In addition, Sia has redundant storage capabilities - client files are distributed among different hosts, and the failure of any of them does not affect the availability of data.
Conclusion
The project has many advantages. First of all, it is a good alternative to regular cloud storage (DropBox, Amazon, Google, etc.). The system allows for quite profitable mining using ASICs for 2022, even compared to top cryptocurrencies. You can make money on SiaCoin not only through mining, ups and downs, but also by becoming a host that rents out storage.
However, there are some disadvantages, such as unlimited emission and the network hashrate, which is supported by two powerful mining pools. Because of this, decentralization suffers and also increases the risk of attack by 51%. Finally, the project does not have an adequate roadmap, making it difficult to understand the developers' plans.
Disclaimer : this article is not a recommendation and does not encourage trading. The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile. While price analysis is a useful tool, it should not be considered a reliable forecast of the future performance of any investment vehicle.
We encourage everyone to explore different points of view and familiarize themselves with local legislation before investing in certain cryptocurrencies. Changelly staff, including the author of this article, may or may not own cryptocurrency, but refrain from making any recommendations or advice to the reader. DYOR!
Where to keep tokens
The safest option for storing SC tokens is to use the official Sia-UI app. To create a Siacoin wallet, find the “Wallet” button on the left side tab and then select “Create a new wallet”.
The application generates a key for you to access your wallet, which looks like a sequence of words. It must be kept in a safe place. After the wallet starts, it will synchronize with the network for some time. Once the process is completed, you will be able to receive and send coins.
A less reliable way is to store tokens on the balance sheet of cryptocurrency exchanges, since in this case you are entrusting your coins to third-party platforms. And cases where hackers break into the wallets of such sites and steal money appear in the news from time to time.
Ways to solve possible problems
Are you having problems with mining? Below you can find a list of the most common problems and ways to solve them.
The miner closes immediately
Symptoms : When you run the marlin.bat file, a command prompt window appears and closes immediately.
This usually happens in cases where the mining settings are too demanding on your video card. This can be fixed as follows:
- Launch the Notepad application
- Go to File > Open and select C:marlinmarlin.bat
- In the SET intensity line, change the set number (default 28) to a lower one - for example, 18.
- Click Menu > Save and close Notepad.
- Try running marlin.bat again.
If this helps, then repeat these steps, gradually increasing the intensity to find the maximum allowable threshold for your video card.
If this method does not work, try the following:
- Press the Win+R combination to open the Run window.
- Type cmd and press Enter.
- In the window that opens, enter the following lines:
cd C:marlin marlin.bat
This will not fix the problem, but this window will remain open, so you can see the error report generated by the Marlin miner before crashing.
How to mine Siacoin on video cards
The developers mined the initial 100 blocks themselves. For the first block, the reward was paid in the amount of 300 thousand SC. Then, with each block, the reward decreases by exactly 1 token. The minimum will be 30 thousand Siacoin.
Mining of coins occurs using a video card. On average, a new block is born every 10 minutes. When hashing blocks, Siacoin algorithms Blake2b and p2pool are used. You can download the mining program on the Sia website. Both the official miner and an alternative version are presented here.
It is more profitable to mine SC tokens together with other miners in pools. For these purposes, for example, Siacoin pool, which is located at sia.nanopool.org, is suitable. In addition to SC, it also allows you to mine Ethereum, Monero, ZCash. Among other options, you should pay attention to siamining.com.
To calculate how profitable it is to mine coins on your hardware, you should use the Siacoin calculator. There are different options available online. The main thing to remember is that each of them will only show approximate profitability. Therefore, which one you choose is not so important.
Choose any of the Siacoin mining calculators listed below and enter your data in the appropriate fields:
- red-miner.com
- whattomine.com
Start of mining
So, your computer is ready for mining! To get started, you need to do the following:
- Open Notepad
- Go to the "File" > "Open" menu and enter C:marlinmarlin.bat
- Under Your Payout Address, change the default address to your current Siacoin wallet address.
- Go to the “File” menu, click “Save” and close “Notepad”.
- Go to the C:marlin folder in Windows Explorer.
- Double click on marlin.bat.
- If a system warning appears, click Run.
You have started mining! You should see the following lines:
2017/05/19 22:55:17 Starting marlin 1.0.0 2017/05/19 22:55:18 CUDA (driver version 8.0) 2017/05/19 22:55:18 [0] GeForce GTX 970 (CC 5.2 ) 2017/05/19 22:55:18 OpenCL: NVIDIA CUDA 2017/05/19 22:55:18 [1] GPU: GeForce GTX 970 2017/05/19 22:55:18 [0] Initializing GeForce GTX 970 2017/05/19 22:55:18 Connecting to siamining.com:3333… 2017/05/19 22:55:18 Difficulty set to 17G 2017/05/19 22:55:18 New block …fa4d65e6 detected, difficulty 43P 2017/05/19 22:55:18 Authentication successful 2017/05/19 22:55:18 [0] Initialized, work size 268435456 2017/05/19 22:55:18 [0] Accepted 2b5b471d D: 42G/17G 965.8 MH/s 2017/05/19 22:55:18 [0] Accepted 0c1e4a1f D: 23G/17G 965.8 MH/s 2017/05/19 22:55:20 [0] Accepted 727c0e70 D: 50G/17G 967.5 MH /s 2017/05/19 22:55:23 [0] Accepted f1eede1e D: 46G/17G 966.2 MH/s
If you want to stop mining, close the window.
Blockchain algorithm
Blockchain-based smart contracts ensure, through the use of cryptographic proofs of storage, that hosts only receive payment if they store files for the entire duration of the contracts.
The use of erasure codes, such as Reed-Solomon codes, guarantees a high rate of continuous file exploitation, even if most hosts on the network are unreliable or frequently fail. All data is encrypted on the client side and filled with redundant information, which prevents hosts from tracking the contents of files or even guessing what files they are based on their size.
The distributed nature of the Sia network allows for a variety of optimizations in terms of latency, throughput, reliability and security. The decentralized nature of the Sia network allows anyone with storage space to earn rewards, lowering the barrier to entry and generally lowering the cost of cloud storage.
Work technology
The basis of Sia is a blockchain that operates using a proof-of-work algorithm. This blockchain implements a new type of transaction – storage contracts. Sia hashing algorithm is blake2b. Sia supports p2pool and multisig wallets.
When you upload a file to Sia, a contract is created for its storage, containing the Merkle root of the file, information about the reward for the host, as well as the fine for the host (in Siacoins). After agreeing on a storage duration, the host must prove that the file is still accessible by providing a random Merkle proof. If the proof is valid, the host is rewarded; otherwise the host will be charged a fine. Random numbers are generated deterministically, using the most recent block as the seed.
Sia supports two-way payment channels and two-way contract comparison. Among other things, this provides significant scalability and eliminates the need for unreliable zero-confirmation transactions. Joining a payment channel network ensures that all transactions within the network are instant and final, free of any risk of double costs.
Reliability is achieved through erasure coding in a highly distributed environment. Erasure coding allows you to split a file into many pieces so that the original version can be reconstructed using just a few of those pieces. For example, you could take a 50 MB file, split it into 200 chunks of 1 MB each, and then recreate the original file using *any* 50 of those chunks. This method has the same resource consumption as making 4 full copies of a file, but is much more reliable because the probability of 151 out of 200 hosts failing is much less than the probability of 4 out of 4 hosts failing.
As the network grows, statistical analysis will be performed to determine the redundancy required to provide 99.9999 percent file storage reliability.
It is likely that 3x the resource consumption is not practical, and statistical analysis will provide an accurate picture of how much overhead is actually required.
Using 200 hosts to store a file means massively parallel downloads are possible. Even if the average Sia host doesn't experience high download speeds, the massive parallelism Sia provides means that downloads will be lightning fast no matter what. In addition, you can choose to connect only to those data centers that are closer and faster than others. This kind of optimization (known as CDN) is an extremely expensive project for traditional cloud storage services, but for Sia it is a natural consequence of the decentralized nature of the network.
Because security is Sia's top priority, all encryption is done locally; the people storing your files won't be able to see what you're uploading. Not only is each file separately encrypted, but also each *fragment* of each file, without telling hosts which fragments are part of the same file.
FAQ
What is needed to mine SiaCoin on HDD?
The process of mining Sia on HDD does not require the merging of computing power, as is necessary for mining Sia on video cards. When choosing a HDD, pay attention to its compatibility with the processor and video card. The electricity consumption of all HDDs is almost the same, during operation it ranges from approximately 5 to 30 Watts. The main requirement for a hard drive is a warranty from the manufacturer. HDDs are not durable, their service life is approximately 10,000 hours, so it is important to protect against at least premature failure.
Where is Siacoin cryptocurrency traded?
Purchasing the Siacoin (Sia) cryptocurrency is possible in ways that involve exchanging cryptocurrency for Bitcoin or Ethereum on exchanges. Siacoin is sold on:
- Poloniex
An American exchanger that also carries out a large volume of trading daily. You will only be able to buy Sia with other cryptocurrencies.
- HitBTC
Estonian exchanger created in 2013. The platform can offer more than 2 hundred cryptocurrencies for exchange. Users of the platform note that it is easy to use. In addition, the platform charges low trading fees.
- Bittrex
Bittrex is the largest cryptocurrency trading platform. The platform supports a large number of cryptocurrencies, including Sia. Bittrex takes security seriously, so account verification can take up to 2 weeks. The platform has a huge trading volume.
- Yunbi, Binance and other exchanges.
Siacoin coins are the basis of network settlements
Sia uses a new cryptocurrency called Siacoin. Before the official release of the code + miner, the first 100 or so blocks will be mined by the developers. Apart from these blocks, there is no pre-mining for siacoins. The reward for the first block will be 300,000 siacoins. Then the reward for each block will be one siacoin less than the reward for previous blocks (299,999, then 299,998, etc.). When the block reward reaches 30,000, all remaining blocks will yield a reward of 30,000 Siacoins. Block formation time is 10 minutes. Each Siacoin consists of 10^24 indivisible units.
The most important functionalities of Sia can only be accessed through the use of Siacoins. All custody contracts and all Sia payment channels require ownership of Siacoins. This condition implies that as Sia becomes more widely used, the demand for Siacoins will also increase. As demand increases, the price will rise. If Sia is used to store billions of dollars worth of files, billions of dollars in Siacoins will be required. The value of Siacoins is inextricably linked to the amount of storage space in use on the Sia network.
Sia also has a second cryptocurrency called siafund.
3.9% of all payments from successful custody contracts go to siafund holders. There are only 10,000 siafunds in existence, and all 10,000 are fully distributed through pre-mining. The holder of approximately 8,750 Sia funds is Sia's parent company, Nebulous Inc. The remaining Sia funds were sold through crowdfunding, which helped finance Sia's early development.
The main purpose of Sia funds is to provide a way to finance the development of Sia without the need for donations or pre-mine. More people using Sia means more funding to hire more developers.
Standard transactions are not billable, nor are outstanding storage contracts (where the host has failed or lost a file).
History and team
The creation and development of the Siacoin blockchain is carried out by a company from Boston called Nebulous Inc. The idea of a new repository was first presented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of the HackMIT developer forum in 2013.
The team consists of the following people:
- David Worick is co-founder and CEO. He came up with the idea of a decentralized data warehouse, which the company is now implementing. He is the lead developer of Sia Core;
- Luke Champin is another co-founder. He supported and helped develop the idea. Specializes in writing decentralized software;
- Todd Mittenberger is a famous businessman and banker. Engaged in investing in various funds and technology projects. In 2009, he created the company Nebulous, which provided consulting services;
- Jonathan Howell is the lead programmer who is responsible for the development of the front-end interface of Siacoin and the UX design of the project;
- Zach Herbert is the Director of Operations. Has management experience in various commercial projects. Joined the Siacoin team in January 2022;
- Chris Schinnerl is a talented Austrian programmer who joined the Sia core development team. Joined in October 2017.
Figure 2. One of the main developers of Sia - David Vorick
Investments for the launch were raised through crowdfunding. Large private investors and funds took part in it. Through the premine, 10 thousand siafonds were released - another currency of the project. All of them are distributed among investors: 8,750 siafunds belong to the parent company Nebulous, 1,250 were sold through the crowdfunding process. 3.9% of payments from all completed contracts are proportionally distributed among the owners of Siafund.
